It was more than month before Ducks' conditioning camp, and Bonino was informed by team strength and conditioning coach Sean Skahan that he would be doing a stationary bike test known as Wingate.

This would require Bonino to sprint against a resistance of seven percent of his body weight for 30 grueling seconds. He had never done it, but he understood the torture factor, and it didn't disappoint when he completed at this month's camp.

“Probably the longest 30 seconds ever,” he said.

Bonino was also put through VO2, another bike test in which the player pedals as long as he can while resistance is added.

“You feel like you're going to puke or pass out, but you have to keep pushing until you get to that highest level,” winger Dan Sexton said. “Eventually, you just die out.”

Wingate and VO2 probably won't be included in Bonino and Sexton's “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” stories, but the two Ducks prospects know it will help them in the long run.

More important is Skahan, the person putting them through these dog-tired days of summer.

Skahan is charged with developing the mostly 18-to-22-year-olds into potential NHL players, much like he transformed Bobby Ryan from an out-of-shape 21-year-old to a potential 40-goal scorer who can command $5 million per season.

That's why players tend to have big ears when they're around Skahan.

“For me, he's really important,” Sexton said. “I need to take whatever tips I can get to gain weight.”

Although he broke out with nine goals in 41 games last season, Sexton, 23, carried only 170 pounds on his listed height of 5-foot-10 and needs to bulk up to earn a spot in the lineup.

Bonino, 22, signed with the Ducks just days after completing his junior season at Boston University in March and then promptly played nine NHL games in 17 days.

“It was definitely something new,” Bonino said. “It was tough. It was something I took to heart.”

Working with Skahan, Bonino has worked on his leg strength and gone from 180 pounds at the end of the season to 189.

Will that make a difference in training camp?

“The ultimate goal is to make the Ducks,” Bonino said. “I don't know what they have in mind. I know that I'm going to come out here and work as hard as I can and just show them that I did the work. That's all I can do. We'll see what happens from there.”

TIPPING POINTS

Strength and conditioning coaches probably weren't prevalent a decade ago, but they have become important components of an organization as more money is invested into prospects.

“We're just a small spoke in the wheel,” Skahan said. “(But) we're trying to improve performance and keep them healthy and keep them in the lineup. It's a pretty important aspect of professional sports.”

Coaches like Skahan are also significant given the physical development of young players. A study by The Hockey News that measured the height and weight of nine of the top 10 picks from the 2001 draft to 2006 revealed that the average weight gain per player was 13 pounds.

“As the game has progressed and with the competition being so high, you need people who work for the players on a constant basis,” said David McNab, senior vice president of hockey operations.

It was actually the loss of weight that tipped Ryan's career, though.

Under Skahan's guidance in the summer of 2008, Ryan dropped 20 pounds and reduced his body fat from 17 percent to nine percent. After Ryan broke out that season with 31 goals and 57 points in 64 games, he thanked Skahan by paying Skahan's way to Las Vegas for the NHL awards show.

“He took me from a guy who was going to be a borderline NHL player to a guy who could play big minutes,” Ryan said.

Ryan remembers that Skahan changed his whole lifestyle, notably his diet, and made him realize “it's not like juniors where you go home and sleep for four hours” after practice.

“That summer with him was an eye opener,” Ryan said. “He has a very long handle. He goes off quite a bit, but it's dedication. He wants your full commitment.”

TRUE CALLING

Those relationships are what drove Skahan to his craft.

As a Boston Bruins fan in his native Massachusetts, Skahan watched friend and fellow strength coach Mike Boyle help former Bruins star Cam Neely come back from a knee injury to have a 50-goal season.

“I thought that was pretty neat how Cam rehabbed his injury and improved his performance at the same time,” Skahan said. “I knew that was something I wanted to do.”

After working at Boston College, Skahan came to the Ducks in 2002 after a friend recommended him to then-coach Mike Babcock.

With his Boston accent and light complexion, Skahan, 34, still looks like an East Coast transplant. But he's a familiar face in the dank confines of Honda Center.

Defenseman Mark Mitera spent an inordinate amount time there at last year's training camp. Mitera had tore the ACL in his knee the previous fall and was trying to get back on the organizational radar.

Skahan ran Mitera through one-legged squats and other drills to get his explosive power back, and Mitera is grateful after he played 81 games for three different teams in the ECHL and AHL last season.

“It was huge to get that stuff out of the way so the rest of the season I could just focus on hockey,” Mitera said.

“He has attention to detail. He wants you working hard. As long as you're giving your best.”

Mitera had just finished another grinding day at camp. For Skahan, it's the most wonderful time of year.

“These weeks are the ones I love because they get to see how our organization works,” he said.

Unfortunately for Bonino and others, they get to see it 30 seconds at a time.

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